


Avalanche Drops

by larrymylove



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Office Fusion, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Feelings Realization, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pranks, Pranks and Practical Jokes, The Office AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 00:11:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11771379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larrymylove/pseuds/larrymylove
Summary: A decade of pranks, of fights, of yelling at each other, hating each other, getting under each other’s skin, and all for what? None of it seemed important anymore......Louis couldn’t help but wonder what the past decade could have been if he hadn’t made such a fuss over the stupid stapler, if he’d just moved it all the way back onto his desk as Harry had asked, if he hadn’t placed Harry’s own stapler in a mold of jello. What would it have been if he’d just reached across the desk and had shaken Harry’s hand and had said, “Hi, I’m Louis. It’s nice to meet you.”Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson have spent the last ten years working at the same company, and driving each other absolutely crazy with pranks and fights and competitions. So when Harry's job is in danger, Louis should be celebrating. A life without Harry Styles in it is something he's wanted for years, right? So why then is he trying to do all that he can to keep that from happening? And what is he supposed to do when Harry thinks it's just another one of Louis' pranks?





	Avalanche Drops

**Author's Note:**

> An AU inspired by one of my favorite episodes of The Office. I hope you enjoy!

It didn’t make a bit of sense.

Louis had shared a desk cluster with Harry Styles for the last ten years, and they’d spent approximately nine years, eleven months, twenty-three hours, and forty five minutes of those ten years hating each other; which didn’t really make sense either. It had all started when Harry had been hired on as a salesman and assigned to the empty desk at Louis’ cluster, right next to his. Initially, Louis had been in awe of the pretty boy with the chocolate curls and forest-green eyes, clad in a salmon-colored paisley button-down shirt. As Harry had taken his seat and had began to organize his things tidily on his desk, Louis had had visions of getting to know the handsome boy, getting to ask him out on a date - perhaps they’d even fall in love. A regular office romance, and all that. His hopes had all been dashed however, when Harry had rapped his knuckles on Louis’ desk - honest to God _knocking_ on his desk - to get his attention.

“Yup?” Louis had asked.

“Um, excuse me but I think your stapler is on my desk.”

Louis wasn’t an unreasonable person by any standard. He quite considered himself a logical kind of guy. Of course he’d be happy to move his stapler out of the the way. He turned his attention to grab for the stapler and all rationale went flying out the window.

His stapler, in question, was about millimeter across the dividing line of their desks. It really wasn’t _that_ big of a deal, Louis knew. He could just easily move his stapler, but something about the fact that it was a millimeter - _if that_ \- across the dividing line, and the fact that this kid had legitimately _knocked_ on his desk to get his attention as opposed to just talking to him from the go like a normal human being, irritated the absolute bejesus out of Louis.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Louis had responded, not his best and brightest moment, admittedly.

“Erm, no. It’s on my desk and I’d like you to kindly move it. Please.”

Louis had debated shoving it even further across the dividing line, but instead simply blinked at the boy and said, “If it’s bothering you so much, then why don’t you move it?”

“Oh,” the boy blinked back, “Um….alright then. Well, I suppose it’s fine that your stapler stay there. I mean, it’s not like it’s actually bothering anyone.”

And for a moment there, Louis had genuinely been taken back by this kid’s agreeability.

Until he said, “But this means of course that you don’t mind if my stapler is on your desk then, do you?” He didn’t even give Louis a chance to reply before placing his stapler in the middle of the dividing line, half on Louis’ desk, half on his own. Louis actually had to move his elbow out of the way to keep from getting jabbed by the damn thing. “Of course you don’t,” the boy continued breezily, “Thank you _ever so much_ for being accommodating.”

Sarcasm was seeping from his voice and Louis had simply gritted his teeth and gone back to his work. He tried to ignore the stapler, but as the day had gone on, the more and more it got under his skin. It was just there, on his desk. Taking up half of his elbow room, cramming him up and making him uncomfortable. He was too stubborn to move his own stapler and apparently so was this kid. Who did he think he was anyway? Louis had worked here first, he had seniority. Sure he’d only worked there for about three months, but still it was longer than newbie over there.

So Louis spent the rest of Harry’s first day stewing over the stapler infringing on his territory; and once their work day was up, he’d offered to stay behind a bit and finish a bit of paperwork. No one questioned it, and once everyone had gone home, Louis had taken Harry’s stapler and snuck into the kitchen station to put into work his master plan.

He was known for his pranks. Ever since he was in middle school, pranking had been his forte. He excelled in pranks. And Harry, quite frankly, deserved a bit of pranking. Louis had to bite down on his lip to keep from laughing as he mixed together the ingredients and got to work. The next morning, he’d arrived extra early to finish his plan. He pulled the tray of jello from the fridge and placed it halfway over the dividing line of their desks.

Harry’s face when he walked in to find his stapler encased in a mold of jello was absolutely worth the overtime Louis had put in to accomplish this plan.

“What the hell, Louis?” He’d cried, “That’s it! I’m telling Liam!”

Louis simply shrugged, turning on his computer and setting about to start his day. Harry ran to the boss’s office and had come back over with Liam in tow.

“Look what he’s done!” Harry pointed accusingly at the jello mold, “Louis put my stapler _in jello_!”

“Now hold on here just a minute,” Liam had said, “How do you know for a fact that Louis put your stapler in jello? It could have very well been anyone. If you don’t have proof that he’s the one who did this, then there’s really nothing I can do for you.”

“But….”

“I’m sorry, kiddo,” Liam clapped Harry on the shoulder, “Best get to work and put this behind you. And Louis, I’ve got my eye on you.”

Harry had spent the rest of the day glowering at Louis and Louis had spent the rest of the day quite pleased with himself.

Thus began their ten year feud.

Whenever one of them had a chance, a new prank was enacted. Louis was the king of pranks, and his own personal favorites had included gift-wrapping Harry’s entire desk, dressing completely like him down to even styling his hair the same and talking the same for the entire day, making Harry believe he had telekinetic powers and could move the coat rack simply by sheer brainpower (and help from the receptionist, of course), coming in early to move Harry’s entire desk into the men’s restroom, etc.

It wasn’t like he was alone in this. Harry had, and embraced, many chances for revenge in his own pranks, including giving Louis a bloody nose with a snowball.

Louis wouldn’t go so far as to say they hated each other, but they definitely, definitely disliked one another.

Which is why it made no sense that when he heard the news that Harry was to be fired, his immediate reaction was to do whatever he could to keep that from happening.

Three weeks ago, their company had sent them down to Florida along with a team of coworkers to put together a proof-of-concept retail store for the printer company they worked for. Harry had been delighted to be put in charge of the team, only to learn that their boss had assigned Louis to go along with them. It probably didn’t help his case that Louis’ immediate reaction had been to flash a grin and say, “This is going to be great, Harry. We’re going to be roommates. And I _definitely_ like showering together to save water” just to watch Harry blanch and gape at Liam.

Florida hadn’t been the worst thing in the world. They worked with their team to get the first concept retail store up and running. Harry was revelling in his position as leader of their team. For as long as they’d worked together, the two of them had been in heated competition - who could make the most sales, who could get the most clients, who could go the longest without taking a personal break to eat or use the restroom. Competition was at the heart of everything they did, so it only made sense for Harry to grow a bit of an ego at being named the leader of the project over Louis.

Harry was almost impossible to work with, but Harry with an ego was impossible to work with. Louis found himself disliking him even more as their days in Florida went on. And when Harry was named the VP of the project and asked to stay in Florida to help put together more retail stores, Louis thought that all his dreams were finally coming true. Finally, a life without Harry in it. A life of peace and quiet and no more pranks or fights or yelling. It would be like a vacation every single day, and he couldn’t wait. He was practically bursting with the thought of returning to Pennsylvania without Harry to annoy him.

And then something unthinkable had happened.

While on the golf course celebrating Harry’s promotion, Louis had overheard the CEO of their printer company say that he couldn’t wait to fire Harry, and Louis’ whole world had crumbled.

“What do you mean fire Harry?” Louis had asked as Harry and his golf caddy drove on to the next hole.

“I mean,” the CEO had said, “that this retail store is a shitty idea and I’ve been looking for an excuse to axe it since it was put into concept. Our printers are shit. Do you know why we sell online and over the phone? So no one has to actually _see_ our product before buying it. A retail store totally fucks up that concept, Louis. Harry is a sweet kid, sure. But I need an out of this retail nonsense and I need someone to take the fall when I tell corporate what an absolute failure the concept store was. And Harry has to be that guy.”

“I….I don’t understand. He hasn’t done anything wrong. You gave him this position. You _promoted_ him. How can you fire him for doing everything you’ve told him?”

“Oh Louis. You have so, _so_ much yet to learn,” the CEO placed a hand on Louis’ shoulder and replied, “Very, very easily.”

And Louis knew in that moment that he needed to do all that he could to put a stop to this. It was cruel to do this to Harry. Even if Louis couldn’t stand Harry a good majority of the time, he knew that this was flat out cruelty, and he couldn’t idly stand by and watch Harry be made a scapegoat. He’d take the fall for everything, be blamed for everything when all he’d done was everything the company had asked of him.

When they got back to the hotel, Louis cornered Harry on the way back to their rooms.

“I need to talk to you,” Louis said, grabbing Harry by the elbow and yanking him back.

“I don’t think so,” Harry tugged his elbow out of Louis’ grasp, “Now that I’m VP you’re just gunning for a raise or a promotion or something. Oh how the mighty have fallen!”

Louis gritted his teeth, “Would you fucking stop with that high horse bullshit? I need to talk to you about something. It’s important.”

“What could a lowly salesman _possibly_ have to say to me, the VP, that’s of such grave importance?”

“Harry would you just….”

“Does your computer need an upgrade? Perhaps your office chair isn’t to your liking. Maybe you want an hour long lunch instead of thirty minutes. Or….”

“You know what?” Louis shouted, finally to the point of being over it, “Forget it! Just fucking forget it, Styles.”

“Whatever, Tomlinson,” Harry shook his head and headed into his room.

Louis huffed, heading to his own. It didn’t matter if Harry got fired or not. None of it was any concern of his. Harry was an asshole, a conceited asshole. It’d serve him good to have him fall on his ass in front of the whole damn company. Louis couldn’t wait to see it in the meeting tomorrow. The CEO would fire him in front of everyone, make him a laughing stock. Harry would be without a job, without….

_Shit_.

Louis sunk down onto his bed and called up the one person he knew he could always go to for anything, Niall the receptionist back at the office. While Louis and Harry had grown more and more tense over the years, Louis had developed a strong bond with the receptionist, Niall. He was laid back, always honest and easy going. The kind of guy you could go to for anything, which is how Louis found himself calling him.

“I just don’t know what to do, Niall,” Louis said, having just relayed the whole story to him.

“Shit, Louis. That’s….that’s awful. They can’t do this to him. You know he doesn’t deserve that.”

“I don’t know, Niall. You haven’t seen him these last few weeks. He’s like, a thousand times worse than he is usually. Getting this promotion has all gone to his head and he’s like Harry on steroids. Maybe he does deserve this.”

“You don’t mean that,” Niall said disapprovingly, “C’mon, Louis. I know you don’t mean that. Look, what you and Harry have had over these last ten years is….it’s a lot, okay. I know you don’t want to see him fired. You have to do all you can to put a stop to this. You can’t let him go to that meeting tomorrow.”

“I tried, Niall,” Louis said hopelessly, “I tried to talk to him and it didn’t work. I tried.”

“Did you try your hardest?” Niall asked.

“I tried my _pretty_ hardest.”

“Not good enough and you know it, Louis. Now I want you to go and do all you can do to get through to him, okay? You don’t want to lose him. I know you don’t.”

Louis’ heart stopped, “The fuck do you mean by that, Nialler?”

Niall just chuckled, “You know very well what I mean, Louis. You and I both know that if he’s not there every day at your desk, you’d be lost without him. I hate to break this to you, but your world kind of revolves around him.”

Louis gasped. How very dare Niall! His world absolutely didn’t revolve around Harry, of all people. “You’re off your nut,” Louis shook his head, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about Niall, and it’s pretty clear to me that you don’t either.”

“Would you just listen to me for five seconds? When you aren’t pranking Harry, you’re _thinking_ about pranking Harry. When we go out, all I hear about is Harry _this_ , and Harry _that_. You might not know it, but everyone else does. Your world revolves around him, Louis. And you know I adore Harry. You know I think he’s sweet and lovely and I’d miss him so much if he were fired. But I also know that if he’s fired, you’d be lost without him; and that’s just not a thought I can bare to have. So you better fucking do all that you can to keep him from going to that meeting.”

“Niall….”

“Would you look at the time? Gotta go! Bye!”

Louis stared at the phone in his hands, in shock that Niall actually had hung up on him. What did he even mean by any of that bullshit? Louis’ world certainly didn’t revolve around Harry. Hell, he had been so overjoyed at the prospect of never having to ever see him again. So why then was he suddenly feeling so ill at the prospect of Harry being fired and never having to ever see him again?

It’s because it makes it real, a little voice in the back of his head explained. He didn’t have to doubt it, he knew it was right. If Harry was promoted and stayed in Florida, he’d still be a member of the company and he’d still return to Pennsylvania for business meetings. Louis would still get to see him. But outside of work functions, they’d never seen each other and if Harry was fired, Louis knew for a fact he’d probably never, ever see him again. They wouldn’t have any reason to still see each other at work functions and the annual Christmas party, they wouldn’t have any reason to even still keep in touch. Louis found himself pulling up the contacts in his phone and scrolling until he saw Harry’s name. He’d never even called him, or texted him. Harry had given him his number years ago when they were to help plan a birthday party for one of their coworkers. That felt like a lifetime ago. Louis wondered if he even still had the same number, wondered if Harry would even pick up if he were to call.

A decade of pranks, of fights, of yelling at each other, hating each other, getting under each other’s skin, and all for what? None of it seemed important anymore. And the more Louis thought on it, the more it felt like a waste. The very first time he’d laid eyes on Harry, he’d felt something stir within him. Louis was never one for signs or premonitions, but he’d felt something very real that first moment he saw Harry. He’d imagined what it’d be like to fall in love with the boy, what it’d be like to get to tell their kids and grandkids how they’d met, what it’d be like to kiss him breathless under the mistletoe at the office christmas party after a little too much spiked eggnog, both blushing and giggling as their coworkers looked on, smiling fondly at the two of them.

Louis couldn’t help but wonder what the past decade could have been if he hadn’t made such a fuss over the stupid stapler, if he’d just moved it all the way back onto his desk as Harry had asked, if he hadn’t placed Harry’s own stapler in a mold of jello. What would it have been if he’d just reached across the desk and had shaken Harry’s hand and had said, “Hi, I’m Louis. It’s nice to meet you.”

He’d spent the last ten years pranking Harry, because that’s what he’d always done; fighting with him, because that’s what he’d always done. Louis knew in that moment, it was time to put a stop to doing things just because “that’s what he’d always done.”

His thumb hovered over Harry’s name in his contacts.

What if he’d changed his number?

What if he wouldn’t pick up?

Or worse, what if he did?

Louis had no idea what to say to him, but he found himself pressing Harry’s name, holding the phone to his ear, trying to remember how breathing worked again.

On the fourth ring, Harry answered.

“What do you want, Louis?”

Okay, so they weren’t exactly off to the greatest start. Louis could still work with that.

“Um, I was wondering if you could come over for a bit? To my room?”

“What do you need, Louis? I’m busy and I don’t have time for your stupid games or silly pranks or….”

“No games, no pranks,” Louis promised, “Just….come. Please.”

He expected Harry to laugh at him. He expected Harry to say no. He honestly expected Harry to tell him to go to hell.

What he didn’t expect, however, was Harry to say, “I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Louis honestly wasn’t sure he’d heard him correctly, but Harry had already hung up so there was no use asking for clarification. Harry was coming over, and Louis had no idea what exactly to say or do with him when he got there. He’d already tried talking to him about the meeting and he hadn’t listened. Who was to say he would this time around? Louis really couldn’t blame him. With constant pranks for a decade, he wouldn’t exactly trust himself either.

Finally, there was a knock on his door and Louis found himself jumping out of bed and pausing at the mirror by the door to fix his fringe before answering. Harry was standing there, pigeon-toed and looking every bit as awkward as Louis felt. He had changed out of his golfing clothes and into basketball shorts and a t-shirt, and Louis’ heart ached a little at the thought that he’d never once in the last decade see Harry dress casually.

“What do you want, Louis?” Harry asked, but his voice didn’t hold the accusing tone that it typically did. He looked, if anything, tired. Louis’ heart clenched a little bit. The boy with the bright forest-green eyes, the chocolate curls, and salmon-colored paisley shirt he’d seen on that first day, had small lines under his eyes that Louis’ didn’t remember ever having seen before. His curls were shorter now than they were that first day, and lines around his eyes matched the small ones around his mouth. A decade of knowing one another, of growing up together, and this was the most intimate they’d ever been. It frightened Louis more than he’d have liked to admit.

“Look,” Harry turned to glance back over his shoulder, “I have a big meeting tomorrow and if this is just another silly prank, I’m just going to….”

“Get drunk with me.”

Okay, of all the things Louis had rehearsed in his head in the two minutes since their phone call, _that_ had not been one of them.

Harry looked every bit as confused as Louis felt; brows creasing and furrowing, “What?”

“Get drunk with me,” Louis said again, this time with more confidence now that he knew there was no going back, “Look, it’s my last night here in Florida, and I’ll go back to Scranton and you’ll stay here and we’ve never just like….hung out before. I just think we should give it a go, our last night together. Let’s get drunk, let’s pretend for tonight that you and I are friends. I don’t want to say goodbye to you tomorrow on a bad note, Styles.”

Harry still looked skeptical, but he stepped over the threshold and into Louis’ room regardless, “Alright. It’s your room,” he shrugged, “any minibar dipping will come out of your wallet.”

“I know that,” Louis crouched down by the minibar and pulled out a few bottles, “Let’s not get too crazy or anything. Just a few drinks, a bit of talking. We’ve got ten years under our belts, H. I want to end it on a high note.”

Truth be told, he had no idea what he was doing. As he said the words outloud, his heart clenched more and more inside his chest. He dreaded the very thought that this would be the last time he’d see Harry Styles, but he had to make the most of it that he could; he had to let them go out as friends, not enemies. And he had to try, one last time, to make Harry listen to him about that damn meeting. Maybe he would if they went into the conversation as friends. Either way, Louis knew that as painful as a goodbye might be, he needed it to be a goodbye between friends, even if that meant it hurting a little more. He’d wasted a fucking decade, he didn’t intend on wasting these last few hours.

“What are we drinking,” Harry asked, peering over Louis’ shoulder as Louis set the tiny bottles out on top of the dresser.

“Jack Daniels alright with you?” Louis asked, unscrewing one of the bottles.

“Sure, I won’t turn it down,” Harry took the bottle Louis handed him and threw it back in one pull.

“Alright there, easy,” Louis chuckled, “We have all night, and I don’t want you to get too plastered before your meeting. Let’s just take it slow, alright.”

“Can we put on a movie?” Harry asked, even though he was already picking up the remote off the dresser and flicking on the TV.

“Sure thing, VP. We can do whatever you want.”

“I’m sorry about being a bit of an ass earlier,” Harry said, pulling up the channel and scrolling through, “I was being a dick about the promotion.”

“Eh, I would have probably been the same. Probably even worse.”

“Yeah?” A slow grin pulled across Harry’s face as he kept his eyes on the guide on screen, “You totally would, huh? You’d be rubbing in all in my face, using your leeway to pull what would have been the most epic of pranks.”

“The most epic,” Louis said, drinking to take the sadness from his voice.

“Definitely would make putting chocolate pudding in my chair child’s play.”

Louis winced, remembering the prank from four years ago. Harry had to wear pudding-stained pants for the duration of the day while everyone in the office had giggled. Kevin had called him, “Peter Pooper Pants” all week.

Louis took another drink.

“Oh look,” Harry’s bright voice interrupted his thoughts, “ _Mean Girls_ is on! I love this movie so much!”

“Really? Me too! My sisters and I would watch this all the time,” Louis brought the unopened bottles over to the bed and crawled up, patting the mattress beside him. Harry kicked off his sneakers and scampered up to join him as Louis sat the bottles between them.

“Lottie and Felicite, right?”

“You remember?”

“Of course, silly!” Harry uncapped another miniature bottle and took a sip, this time putting the cap back on and setting it on the beside table for later, “We’ve worked together for ten years, of course I remember the names of your sisters. The oldest two are Lottie and Felicite, and then there’s the younger ones. Oh, they can’t be all that young any more though, huh?”

“No, not really,” Louis was taken back. It wasn’t like it was a huge surprise Harry would know the names of his family. When Harry was out sick and HR needed updated contact info, Louis had automatically told Toby Harry’s mother’s name. Maybe they really did know more about each other than he’d thought. Maybe somewhere in the midst of the pranks and fighting, they’d gotten to know one another, at least a little bit.

“The younger twins,” Louis went on to explain, to focus his mind on something other than the thoughts he was having, “they start high school next year.”

“Unbelievable. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday we were in our twenties, huh?”

“God, I had so many plans! I swore I was going to become at least manager by the time I was thirty. God knows I put in the hours for it.”

“I thought for sure Liam would promote one of us to assistant regional manager over the years.”

“You’re VP of retail sales,” Louis tried to keep his tone bright as he reminded Harry of his position in the company, the position he’d only been given to be scapegoat for one of the biggest financial disasters the company would have ever faced.

Louis took another drink.

“That’s something, H,” he nudged Harry in the ribs with his elbow.

“Yeah? It kind of feels….undeserving. I know I’ve been talking big game these last few weeks here, but it feels very random to me. Like maybe I don’t really deserve it.”

“Of course you deserve it, Harry. You deserve a promotion more than anyone I know!”

“Even more than you?” Harry asked, looking up at Louis through lashes Louis wondered when had gotten so damn long.

“Hey now,” Louis chuckled, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”

Harry smiled, taking another sip from the bottle of the nightstand before saying, “You know, we’re not doing a very good job of watching this movie.”

“Pick a movie and then you talk all the way through it. You’re one of those.”

“One of who?”

“One of those people who always yammers throughout movies. You know the type. The kinds that always like - did you see that, where’s she going, what’s she doing, what actor is that, Fast and Furious _that’s_ where he’s from; if you could would you drive one of those cars, what’s your dream car? Puh-lease.”

“I do not talk like that!” Harry gasped, affronted.

“You do tend to ramble, Styles. Hate to break it to you.”

“Yeah well, at least rambling is better than acting like you’re too cool to talk to a person.”

Louis set down the bottle in his hands. He didn’t take another drink.

“I don’t do that….do I?”

Harry shrugged, “Sometimes. It’s not a big deal. Let’s watch the movie, okay Lou?”

_Lou_. It was a nickname Harry had taken to calling him somewhere within the last ten years. Louis didn’t know why, but it bothered him to not recall when exactly Harry started calling him that. The nickname came so easily, so casually from his lips. It felt almost domestic. And if Louis closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that they’d spent the last ten years as friends.

“H, you can’t go to that meeting tomorrow,” Louis blurted out before he could stop himself.

“What? What are you talking about?”

Louis had wanted this conversation to go smoothly. He knew Harry would be more prone to listen to what he had to say if he went into logically and reasonably - not just blurting it out like he had. But there was no going back now. Louis needed to say this, he needed to let Harry know what was going on. He had to try his hardest, not just his pretty hardest.

“They’re going to fire you tomorrow in the meeting. The CEO says it’s a meeting to welcome you to your new position, but in reality it’s a meeting to tell the investors and the managers that the retail stores are a failure. He’s going to pin it all on you, and he’s going to fire you tomorrow in front of everyone.”

Harry shook his head, his brow pulled tight and his eyes filled with confusion, with hurt, “Why….why are you doing this? You said this wasn’t going to be a prank….”

Fuck. Louis dug his nails into his palm, “It’s not a prank, H. I swear to God, this is not a prank. The CEO told me today. This has been his plan all along. It’s fucked up, Harry. It’s so fucked up and it’s cruel and I can’t….I can’t let you walk into that meeting tomorrow. Going to that meeting means you accept the promotion to VP, it also means you’re fired from Sabre immediately. You can’t go to that meeting, Harry. You _can’t_.”

“I don’t understand, Louis. I don’t….you promised this wouldn’t be a prank!”

“It’s not! Harry listen to me!”

“No!” Harry jumped up from the bed, hurt and anger written on his face, “I can’t believe you, Louis! I can’t believe you’d….I trusted you. You said you wanted our last night together to be….you said….I don’t understand why you’d do this to me. I trusted you! I trusted you and….”

“Then keep trusting me! _You have to trust me on this, H._ What they’re planning to do to you - what they are doing to you - it’s cruel. It’s so, so very cruel and I would never, _ever_ plan something like that. I’d never do something like that you, Harry. _Ever_. You have to believe me.”

“Tell me why I should?” Harry stormed over to the door, “When everything you’ve said and done for the last ten years points to this being something right up your fucking ally, Louis?”

“Harry….no! Wait….”

“I’m done, Louis. I’m done. I’m done with Scranton. I’m done with you. I’m glad tomorrow is the last day I’ll ever see you. _Good fucking riddance!_ I try to live a life of not hating, Louis. I try to be kind and try to love everyone. I _don’t_ hate. But over the last ten years, it’s been close. Very close. But I never did hate you. Despite the pudding and the jello and moving my desk to the restroom and stabbing my yoga ball while I was on it, and mocking me and doing all that you can do to torment me, I never once hated you. Until today. So congratu-fucking-lations.”

Louis opened his mouth to say something - anything, but the door had already slammed shut, and he was alone, in every sense of the word.

This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. This wasn’t how any of this was supposed to go. This wasn’t how any of the last _decade_ was supposed to go. Louis put his face in his hands and tried to tell himself that Harry just needed to blow off some steam, but he knew this was different from their usual fights. They’d never hated each other, as close as they’d gotten throughout the years, they’d never crossed that dividing line.

Until today.

The stapler had been pushed over the edge.

The last time, they’d both been too stubborn to move it and to apologize, too stubborn to be mature and to make a friendship, or maybe something more. Their stubbornness had been their downfall all those years ago, and Louis knew that now, he had to use that same stubbornness to set things right. He couldn’t give up on Harry, no matter how angry and how hurt Harry was with him, he had to keep trying. He wouldn’t give up on him, he just couldn’t.

Louis stood from the bed and collected the rest of the bottles to put back in the minibar, trying to buy some time to let Harry blow off some of that steam before going once again to try to talk to him. He couldn’t blame him for thinking the worst. Louis knew that in the last ten years, his pranks had spanned from good natured to over the line. And maybe it was maturity, maybe it was something deeper, that made him regret ever having put that damn stapler in jello.

He knew he couldn’t take back everything he’d done in a decade, but he could at least try to save Harry’s job. It would be the least he could do. Louis gathered up the sneakers Harry had forgotten by the bed and made his way down the hallway to Harry’s room. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. There was no answer, not even a sound from inside. Louis knocked again, and was still met with silence.

He sat the sneakers by the door and called out, “Harry? Harry, it’s me. I want to talk to you, H. I understand you’re mad at me, and I totally deserve it for everything I’ve done over the years. But I need you to listen to me. I’m telling you the truth, Harry. I would never, _ever_ hurt you like this. You have to believe that. I know in the past I’ve done some pretty messed up things to you. And you didn’t deserve that. I guess I just….I got used to being a certain way to you and over the years, I just was afraid to stop being that way. Because if I stopped pranking you and picking fights with you, if I stopped acting like I didn’t like you, I’d have to admit to myself that I do actually like you. Very, very much as it turns out. And it kind of might be breaking my heart a little bit to think of you not being a part of my life any more. And I just have to fight against losing you, H. I have to fight for you and I _am_ fighting for you. You can’t go to that meeting tomorrow. You just can’t. And you have to trust me on that, Hazza. If you go to that meeting, I’ll lose you. And that’ll kill me inside, but I think I can get past that. Maybe. One day. But what I could never get past is knowing that you were going to be thrown under the bus while I stood by and did nothing to stop it. I have to try to stop it, Harry.”

Louis paused and waited for a response. He waited and waited until it was clear from the silence, Harry wasn’t going to respond at all. He left the sneakers and turned to make his way back to his own room. He’d tried. He’d said all that he’d intended to, and so, so much more. If Harry was going to ignore that and go to that meeting, there was nothing more Louis could try to do to stop him.

He didn’t feel much like eating when he got back to his room, but he knew he needed something in his stomach. He ordered a burger from room service and set about packing up his things for the trip home tomorrow. At least he’d see Niall tomorrow, and Niall would have him over for beers and maybe a good cry or two. Niall was always good for that sort of thing. Louis focused on folding up his shirts as neatly as he could until room service knocked on his door. He abandoned his half-packed suitcase to go answer. He’d barely gotten the door open a centimeter before Harry pushed his way inside, falling into Louis and sobbing against his shoulder.

Louis was frozen in shock before toeing the door shut and wrapping his arms around Harry. He held him as he sobbed against his shoulder, running his fingers through his curls and trying to whisper soothing things to him.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Louis soothed, “I’m glad you listened, H. I’m glad you’re here. I was so worried when you didn’t say anything but….”

“What? What are you talking about?” Harry pulled back, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.

“I….I went to your room….”

“I wasn’t in my room. I was, but I just changed out of my pajamas and went down to the bar. I needed to get you out of my head, Louis. But while I was down there….I overheard the CEO on the phone….he was talking about his plans for the meeting tomorrow. I….I heard everything. You were right, Louis. You were right and I should have listened.”

Louis didn’t allow himself the time to wonder if he should be thankful Harry hadn’t been present for his speech earlier, all he could focus on was holding him and trying his best to comfort him in any way he could. “It’ll be alright, Harry. It will be. Tomorrow, we’ll get up early and we’ll go to the airport instead of that stupid meeting. You’ll get on a plane and you won’t accept the VP position. We’ll go home, we’ll go home to Scranton and we’ll get up Monday morning and we’ll go to work and we’ll go back to normal. Everything back to usual.”

“No.”

“No? What do you….”

“Not everything back to normal, not everything back to usual,” Harry pulled back from Louis’ shoulder, meeting his eyes and shaking his head adamantly, “I’m tried of normal, tired of usual. It’s been ten years, Louis; and I’m so, so _fucking tired_ of what’s usual.”

“I don’t….I don’t understand.”

Harry stepped back, sniffling and pulling out of Louis’ embrace. He held out his hand and said, “Hi. I’m Harry Styles. I know we’ve worked at this company together for awhile now, and it’s a damn shame I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself to you yet. It’s nice to meet you.”

Louis stared at the hand in front of him, shock being an understatement. After a moment, a smile that he could feel all the way into his heart spread across his face as he shook Harry’s hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harry Styles. I’m Louis Tomlinson. It is a damn shame we hadn't met sooner.”

“It’s quite strange, not having met up until now. I’m certain we haven’t though, I know I’d never be able to forget those gorgeous blue eyes.”

Alright, so they were doing this then. Louis could definitely do this.

“Your green eyes left me breathless the moment you walked into the office in that ridiculous salmon-colored paisley shirt.”

“Hey,” Harry pouted slightly, “I get tons of compliments when I wear that ridiculous salmon-colored paisley shirt.”

“Oh yeah?” Louis cocked a brow, grabbing onto the hem of Harry’s shirt with both hands and pulling him back against him, close enough that if Louis moved just so, he could brush his lips against his, “By who, Styles?”

“Oh, just all the most handsome, eligible bachelors of Scranton, Pennsylvania!” Harry’s grin was beyond shit-eating; and Louis knew that while maybe he couldn’t remember exactly when in the last decade it’d happened, he’d fallen for the ridiculous boy in front of him, and he was never, ever going to let him go.

“Hey, H?” Louis played with the hem of Harry’s shirt, fingers brushing the softness of Harry’s hips, the warmth of his bare skin.

“Yeah, Lou?”

“Shut up.”

“Rude!”

“Rude!” Louis gasped, affronted, digging his fingertips into the softness of Harry’s hips just to make him yelp, make him giggle and squirm, “I’m over here trying to kiss you and you’re spoutin’ off about ‘ _the most handsome, eligible bachelors of Scranton, Pennsylvania_!’ And _I’m_ the rude one?”

“Okay, okay,” Harry giggled, stilling Louis’ hands with his own, “I _suppose_ you can kiss me. Though to be fair, you are one of those eligible Scranton bachelors.”

“Am I though?” Louis asked.

Harry shook his head, “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Louis’ smile was face-splitting, “I have a decade worth of kisses to give you. Get on that damn bed, Styles, before I put you on there myself.”

It didn’t come as a surprise when Harry folded his arms over his chest and shook his head, just to make Louis be the one to put him on the bed himself.

****

When Monday morning came, Louis awoke to an empty bed and a sticky note on his forehead.

“ _Had to run into work early. I’ll make it up to you tonight though ;) - H._ ”

Louis rolled his eyes, sticking the note on the bedside table. His luggage was still in the corner of Harry’s bedroom; they hadn’t even been bothered to stop at Louis’ house or to untangle from each other long enough for Louis to take it back to his place. He grabbed a change of work clothes and dressed, turning to admire the scratch marks on his back.

When he got the office, Harry was already at their desk cluster. He was on the phone with a client already, and Louis pouted slightly at not getting to say hello to him right away because of it.

As he got closer to his desk, he saw it.

There in the middle of his desk was a jello mold in the shape of a heart.

With his fucking stapler in the middle of it.

Harry turned, smiling innocently as Louis mouthed, “You little shit.” He had to bite his bottom lip to keep from giggling into the receiver of the phone.

Louis held up his middle finger, Harry blew him as kiss.

As Harry turned back to his call, Louis shook his head fondly, picking up the note stuck under the tray of jello.

_“Roses are red,_  
_Violets are blue,_  
_Pranks can be sweet,_  
_And sometimes you too!”_

Louis taped the note to one of the frames on his desk. One day, it’d be joined by pictures of them - maybe a wedding picture, maybe pictures of their kids. All Louis knew for certain was that he couldn’t wait for the next ten years spent with Harry by his side.

And that made all the sense in the world.  



End file.
